Thursday, July 14, 2005

Posner Philosophical Powerhouse

David Brookscalls for a "philosophical powerhouse." His makes a noble request, but doesn't get the specifics right. Brooks proposes Michael McConnell for the job. He makes no mention of Posner, even if to rule him out. It's hard to read the words "has already influenced American life through sheer force of intellect" without thinking of Posner.

WWSD? (What Would Safire Do?)

Brooks's last line is worth repeating though:

Mr. President, don't repeat the mistakes of the past. Ideas drive history, so you want to pick the person with the biggest brain.

1 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Posner is an amaginzly bright guy, but the law and economics assumption that people are fundametnally rational and will generally (always?)act rationally to further their own interests seems itself to be kind of wacky.